Courts / Dublin / Report
Father who savagely tortured daughter because he thought she was 'possessed' has jail term reduced
Summary
In a 2023 appeal, the Court of Appeal reduced the 40‑year‑old father's 14‑year prison sentence to 13 years for the brutal torture of his nine‑year‑old daughter, whom he and his wife believed was possessed by an evil spirit. The father's sentence was lowered by one year after the appellate judge, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, found his culpability to be "marginally less" than his wife's, who retained a 14‑year sentence. The appellate judge agreed that both parents were guilty of "barbaric acts on a defenseless child" but disagreed that they were equally culpable. The father's appeal also argued that his loss of access to his other children should be a mitigating factor, but the judge rejected this claim. The case remains at the appellate stage, with the father's sentence now set at 13 years of imprisonment.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Father who savagely tortured daughter because he thought she was 'possessed' has jail term reduced. Procedural stage: appeal
When:
- June 28 Incident
- July 2, 2019 Incident
- March 2019 Other
- August 2019 Hearing Or Sentence
- 2023-07-25 Publication
Why: A man who "tortured" his daughter using "savage and barbaric acts" of violence because he and his wife thought the girl was "possessed" by an evil spirit has had his 14-year prison sentence reduced by one year by the Court of Appeal. CNI source report
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